Hometown company, RC Pet Products win the Prize at the Western Pet Expo

With summer quickly approaching timing couldn’t be better to talk about The Ultimate Cooling Coat by RC Pet Products, our big winner in the 2014 Western Pet Expo New Product Competition.  Founded by entrepreneur Rory Carr in 1988, RC Pet designs products for pets of all walks of life, from those that never leave the home, to those that enjoy their time playing, working and competing outdoors.  We spent some time with Angela Welch, of RC Pet Products to get a good perspective on the organization and the Ultimate Cooling Coat.

Angela, can you please give us a history lesson on how RC Pet Products came to be?

Rory Carr started RC Pet Products in his basement in Whistler over 26 years ago. He wanted to design pet products that helped strengthen the bond between guardian and pet, while looking good and performing superbly under all conditions. We’re always looking for ways to improve our products, by talking with the people who use them, observing the pets that wear them, and using them ourselves every day.

RC Products is now headquartered in Vancouver, BC and employs 50 people, including in house manufacturing of all our collars and leashes.

You have coats in your product line for rain and cold weather, what inspired one for the warmer months?

Not all dogs are built for the heat.  We wanted to design a coat that allowed our canine companions to comfortably enjoy the sunny outdoors just like we do!  It uses a unique combination of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) fabric and Air mesh.  The PVA absorbs more water and stay cooler longer, while the air mesh allows for air circulation and a lighter overall weight

Sounds like a lot of research, what was involved in the development phase?

Lots of research on the best fabrics, testing different designs to find something that allowed full range of motions of the dog while reducing overall weight and still providing maximum cooling effects.  We tested this jacket with Agility dogs and they were particularly excited for its launch. 

How does it work?

The coat contains both the PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) fabric and Air mesh which can hold water.  PVA holds up to 3 times its weight in water and is a similar fabric to car shammies and other ultra-absorbent cloths.  Depending on the humidity of the climate and the exposure to direct sunlight on average the PVA will stay wet for approximately 4hrs and then stiffen when dry, so it’s easy to know when you need to rewet the coat.

With distribution across North American since February, how has the response been?

The response for this coat has been great. People love the look and the fit and see a real need in the market for a cooling option that isn’t too heavy. 

Congratulations again to RC Pet Products on their win and thank you to all the visitors who took the time to vote.